Clear Ballot demos thermal-printed ballots and visualization tools to commissioners

Representatives from Clear Ballot demonstrated their accessible ballot-marking device, thermal-printer workflow and ClearCount tabulation and adjudication software in an afternoon presentation to the Board and county staff.

Matt Dwyer, business development manager for Clear Ballot, framed the system as a hand-marked paper-ballot workflow: "Price point, we're gonna be cheaper overall than Dominion, with a lifetime of the contract," he said during the demo and emphasized a paper-ballot audit trail and thermal consumable-only printing. The company showed how the ClearMark device prints a durable full-face ballot on thermal roll paper, how poll-worker check-in plugs a thumb drive into the unit to load ballot styles, and how the ClearCount tabulator scans ballots and surfaces marks for adjudication using a vote-visualization interface.

The presentation illustrated adjudication and write-in workflows, and Clear Ballot staff responded to commissioner questions about certification (company is pursuing a hardware build without wireless for later certification), local service capacity in Colorado, and onsite training and warranty terms. County staff asked about ballot images, how mail-in ballots integrate with central scan procedures, and how the vendor supports post-election audits and exporting images if local officials elect to hand-count.

Why it matters: the system emphasizes hand-marked paper ballots plus modern adjudication and visualization to capture voter intent and expedite tabulation; certification timing and training commitments will determine whether a switch is feasible for Grand County. Clear Ballot offered local references and said Colorado certification for a fully locked-down hardware configuration was in process.